Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer program products for selectively marking and retrieving data from an event log file are described. One method includes providing a first syntax for user insertion of at least one bookmark into an event log file associated with a computing system, wherein the event log file records event data that pertains to the computing system. The first syntax is received and, in response, the at least one bookmark is inserted into the event log file. The method also includes providing a second syntax for retrieving a user-specified portion of the event log file using the at least one bookmark. The second syntax is received and, in response, the user-specified portion of the event log file is retrieved.